Both teams will unveil Stadium Series jerseys on Dec. 3
The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks will unveil their 2014 Stadium Series jerseys on Tues., Dec. 3. We now have confirmation of this from both teams as well as an Instagram teaser video from the Kings. I grabbed a couple of stills to share.
Video stills from Los Angeles Kings (via Instagram)
There are only three shots in the 14-second video clip. The first seems to show the side and under arm of the jersey. The color and lighting seem to suggest the jersey is primarily white — rather than black as we suspected. The final shot of the video is a graphic confirming the day and time of the unveiling on the Kings' website.
Video still composite from Los Angeles Kings (via Instagram)In between was another shot where the camera tilts down the sleeve of the jersey. It's a close-up, so for all the details we see, we don't get to see much of the bigger picture.
The image to the right is the first and last frame of the camera move stitched together — so you can see all of what was shown in a single image.
The lighting is very dramatic and makes it difficult to distinguish colors. But given the outline stitching on the numbers and the visible stripe below, it looks like part of the sleeve is black.
It's probably not unlike the sleeve design we see on the Avalanche and Panthers uniforms.
The sleeve stitching seems to be similar to what we saw on the Islanders' Stadium Series jersey, but I'm really hoping Reebok hasn't decided to paint all the teams with the same brush (i.e.: template).
I'm definitely hoping the tilted sleeve numbers and stripes don't become a thing. As a one-off, it's fine. But it's not something to be repeated over and over.
If you can make more sense than I can out of what we're seeing, please feel free to share in the comments.
Let's move on to the Kings' Dodger Stadium opponent now.
Prior to the holiday weekend, all we knew about the Ducks' Stadium Series jersey is that it will be orange — as confirmed by Ducks' media guy Adam Brady. Then Thursday afternoon, Brady confirmed the unveiling date after being asked by a fan.
This morning, Icethetics reader @EricTheHawk tweeted some details he'd heard about Anaheim's new threads. He wrote the following:
Potential scoop? I spoke w/ employee at Ducks team store yesterday who said Stadium jersey essentially an orange version of 3rd.
Said he'd seen designs, and the one Ducks most likely went with basically flips the orange and black on the current third look.
Take it for what it's worth, but he seemed knowledgeable & was excited to see (didn't know) when final design would be released.
If true, this would definitely get us out of the common template issue, but it doesn't sound all that creative. Bear in mind this is only one report from someone who was unsure of the final look.
That brings us to speculation. Some fans have started looking a little more closely at a piece of Stadium Series merchandise for answers. The Ducks' "Hockey Bear" T-shirt, to be specific.
Image from Shop.NHL.com
Folks have been wondering whether the bear is wearing the Ducks' Stadium jersey. It's orange. And it has sleeve and waist striping not unlike what we saw with the Isles. This doesn't sync up with the report of it being an orange version of the third jersey — unless the employee was merely referring to the webbed "D" crest.
Another thing to note on this T-shirt is the shoulder of the bear's jersey. This is the highest resolution I could find, but if you look closely, it looks like "OC" in the Ducks' font. An orange jersey. Orange County. May be extrapolating a bit, but who knows.
Now, two questions for Ducks fans: 1) Has anyone bought this shirt? If so, would you mind sending me a better photo of the bear? And 2) have you ever seen the team use this "OC" logo anywhere before?
We have 72 hours to speculate. All will be revealed on Tuesday morning.
Video stills from NHL
